With great anticipation for our journey into Princess Louisa, we began the day by hauling our anchors up. As we pulled out of the bay there were many eagles perched around cleaning their feathers and eyeing us reproachfully as we cruised by.

To get to Princess Louisa you must first cruise up Jervis Inlet which is the deepest inlet in British Colombia measuring 2400ft at its deepest point and the cliffs above are up to a striking 5900ft high! This area is part of the Sechelt First Nation and historically there were many villages in the area, but they were greatly impacted by the smallpox epidemic when European settlers started to enter the area. Today there are many areas of land in the area that are managed by the Sechelt people.

As we made our way deeper into the inlet, the clouds started to come lower, weaving their way through valleys and trees. We got to the entrance of Princess Louisa at slack tide and all vessels made it through Malibu Rapids into the cathedral of tall cliffs coming in and out of sight through the clouds. It felt as if we were boating through the sky with trees far above us and water falls everywhere we looked. The rain of the day was creating more waterfalls than we could count and when we got to Chatter Box Falls at the end of the inlet it was raging!

There was space for our whole fleet on the dock next to Chatter Box falls and once we were all tied up it was a cozy afternoon of staying warm in our boats. There was a group of us that braved the rain and went and explored the lush forest and snacked on salmon berries and blue berries. There is a small beach in front of the falls, and it was covered in small larval jellies and HUGE washed-up Lion’s Mane jellies (jelly “fish” are in fact not fish). The rest of the evening was spent drying ourselves off and getting ready to explore the inlet the next day.

P.S. Missed this year’s Princess Louisa Flotilla? Not to worry, there’s always next year! Send us an email to reserve your spot on our 2023 Princess Louisa Flotilla.